Storytelling

Once this semester, you’ll tell the class a story: the story of a Greek myth. You’ll record a video of yourself telling your story, and share it via Flipgrid before class on April 20th. Within each family, we’ll vote on our favorites, and those students will be invited (not required) to retell their myths live in class.

Myths are the inexhaustible stories that have been told and retold again and again and somehow only grow more powerful, meaningful, rich, alluring with each telling. They’re not harmless, but told carefully, they can be liberating, subversive, funny, distracting, pedagogical, ethical, beautiful.

Instructions

To complete this assignment, you must:

Preparation

  • First, select a Greek myth to tell. Draw on the readings we’re doing in class, the libraries’ Classical Mythology Research Guide, digital resources like Wikipedia or Theoi.com, or other places you’ve encountered Greek stories of gods and heroes.
    • If you’re interested in a longer myth (The Trojan War, or The Quest for the Golden Fleece), decide early on whether you can tackle it in such a short time, or if you need to focus on a single episode from the larger tale.
  • Study your myth: what ancient versions of it still exist? What ancient images depict the myth or its characters? What retellings have been done down through the ages? Who is still telling this story today?
  • Plan to tell the myth over view in five minutes or less.
    • Five minutes will pass very quickly, and Flipgrid will not permit longer uploads, so plan carefully! Write out a script or a plan, or just memorize what you want to say.
    • Practice, re-record, and/or edit your tale until it’s polished, engaging, captivating, and clear.
  • Find an image related to your myth.
    • This can be an ancient Greek work of art, such as a statue or vase painting
    • It could be a historical image related to the myth, such as a Renaissance painting
    • It might be a modern image, such a still from a video game or movie, a page from a graphic novel

Recording

You can record your storytelling video one of two ways: you can record directly through Flipgrid, or you can produce a video file outside of Flipgrid (using your Phone / Tablet / Computer, for example) and upload it to the site.

I would encourage you to have fun with your story! Keep it safe for work and appropriate for the classroom, but otherwise you are welcome to perform your story however you’d like. Have fun with backgrounds, filters, music, effects; record yourself in an interesting setting; use costumes; involve other people (with their consent!). Play with it!

Flipgrid

  • Go to the Mythology Flipgrid Page (note: you must log in using your college email address), and click on the topic page for your family
  • Click on the pink “RECORD” button (whether you are recording or uploading a response).
  • Set up your video by adding backgrounds, images, filters before you start recording. Make sure you incorporate your chosen image, either as a background or added image.
  • Click the round “record” button in the center of the video, and tell your Myth in under 5 minutes. Click the red record button again to stop recording.
  • Click “Retake” in the bottom left to start over, or “Next” to move into editing
  • Trim your video down to just the part you want to share; you’re also welcome to add music or other effects if you’d like! Then click Next again.
  • Enter a caption in the following format: [Your Name]: The Myth of [your topic]. For example, I might write “Matt Farmer: The Myth of Prometheus.” Then click “Post to Topic.”

Upload

  • Create a video file using your phone, by recording yourself in a private Zoom meeting, or however else you’re comfortable.
    • It must be a .mov, .mp4, or .webm file. It must be under 500mb. Ultimately it will need to be less than 5 minutes long, but you can trim the video within Flipgrid if you haven’t already.
    • Find a way to incorporate your image into your video: add it as a background or filter, for example, or if you’re recording in Zoom, use “Share Screen” to display an image or slide.
  • Go to the Mythology Flipgrid Page (note: you must log in using your college email address), and click on the topic page for your family
  • Click on the pink “RECORD” button (whether you are recording or uploading a response).
  • Instead of recording a video, click the “Upload Clip” button in the upper right (an upward arrow with a line over it). Drag your video file onto the upload area, or click it to select the file from your computer.
  • Trim the video down to the 5 minute limit if necessary (by using the drag handles, then clicking “Confirm”), then click “Next.”
  • Enter a caption in the following format: [Your Name]: The Myth of [your topic]. For example, I might write “Matt Farmer: The Myth of Prometheus.” Then click “Post to Topic.” Don’t close the app until your video has finished uploading!

Respond

  • Return to the Flipgrid page for our course (note: you must log in using your college email address), and open your family’s topic page
  • Watch at least 6 of the stories told by your classmates – this will take half an hour, or less!
  • When you watch a story, add a comment – it can be VERY brief (such as “Nice job!”) or more involved (“I loved the way you retold the story of Prometheus. It reminded me of this scene in Percy Jackson when…”).
    • Keep your comments exclusively positive – we are not looking for critique or criticism.
    • This is how you will earn credit for your discussion forum during the last week of class.
  • Before the start of class on April 25th, vote for your favorite stories from your Family using the form below: